A World Without Ron
by snaptdragon
Summary: How would Hermione, Draco, and Harry's lives be different if Ron had never existed?  Chapter 2 Revised
1. Chapter 1

**A World Without Ron**

_A/N: This concept is based on a lovely fic by Lovely White Violets (for those of you who don't know it, it's a Teen Titans spin off called "A World Without You," and you should definitely check it out). And, I don't own the world of Harry Potter or the characters, of course. The Prologue is short, the chapters will be longer.  
_

**Prologue: Friends and Enemies**

"Filthy mud-blood!" someone sneered.

Hermione turned to see who it had been and tripped over Goyle's well-placed foot. She fell to the floor, all of her books landing in a heap around her. The entire Potion's class snickered as she picked herself up.

Glaring, Hermione turned to see who had shouted the slur at her. She wasn't surprised to find Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy sitting only a few desks away.

"What do you two want now?" she demanded, her hand moving automatically to her wand. She knew better than to face the two of them unarmed.

"Just thought you could use a reminder," Draco said with a sly grin.

Hermione picked up the last of her books and sighed. "Of what?"

"To not be such a know-it-all in class today," Harry said. "We're all working hard enough just keeping up with our classes. The teachers wouldn't expect half as much if it weren't for you."

Hermione tried to summon a sharp reply, but with both of them staring her down, it was all she could do to keep from casting a curse on them that they'd remember the next time they tried to pull this kind of stunt. Luckily, Snape chose that moment to burst into the classroom, and Hermione barely had time to run to her seat before he began the lecture.

Hermione had never been popular, but after five years at Hogwarts, she would have expected to at least have one or two friends. Instead, all she had was the constant bullying of Harry and Draco to remind her exactly how friendless and alone she was.

Hermione started taking notes, her mind drifting back to those first days at Hogwarts, and wondering how it all might have been different…

---------

Thanks for reading!

Check my profile page for update schedule


	2. On the Hogwarts Express

**Chapter 1:  
On the Hogwarts Express**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. As you might expect, I got a little caught up first trying to procure and then reading the "Deathly Hallows" I thought a lot about this story, and I want to go back and try another go at the first chapter. Hopefully it's a little better this time around… As usual, I don't own any of the Harry Potter world or characters or plot. I'll be taking actual bits out of the Sorcerer's Stone, which I also really don't own any rights to.**

**This picks up at the middle of Chapter Six of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone…**

Harry quietly watched the world passing by out the window of the Hogwarts Express, content for the moment just to catch his breath. He had nearly been unable to figure out how to get through the barrier to the platform nine and three-quarters, nearly been late to catch the train, and now, he was alone in this compartment. He could hear people laughing and talking outside, and some part of him wished someone would slide open the door to the compartment that he was in and ask to sit down. But everyone seemed to have already found a seat, and more importantly, friends.

It was almost a relief when the woman selling snacks came by his compartment. Admittedly, Harry went a little overboard, buying several of each item off the cart. But when it came to actually eating the treats, Harry was more than a little hesitant. He tried an Every Flavor Bean, but it tasted suspiciously of sprouts, so he abandoned those. The chocolate frogs he decided not to open, wondering if they really were frogs dipped in chocolate…

There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the roud-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

Harry shook his head helplessly. "No… er… would you like a chocolate frog?"

The boy seemed to think this was hardly the time to talk about an edible counterpart to his missing familiar. He thanked Harry and declined, moving on to the next compartment.

A few moments later, the door to the compartment slid open again. The boy was back, along with a girl who was already wearing Hogwarts robes.

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost his," she said.

"Sorry," Harry said.

The girl looked around as though wanting an excuse to stay and talk, but since nothing presented itself, she gave Harry a quick smile and left.

Harry wished he could have thought of something interesting to say or some bit of magic to impress her. He wasn't off to a very good start of making friends. Harry spent the next few minutes lost in thought, wondering how he was going to meet anyone at this school if he didn't have the first idea of what to talk about when the compartment door slid open again.

Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: itw as the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd showin back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Draco Malfoy." He held out his hand for Harry to shake.

Harry didn't particularly like the way Draco acted (he still couldn't help being reminded of Dudley), but he figured he didn't have any reason not to take this one chance at friendship that was being offered his way. He took Draco's hand and the three boys sat down in his compartment.

"All this is yours?" Draco asked, looking at the pile of candy.

"Er… yeah. Help yourself," Harry said.

"Like I was saying earlier," Draco said, digging into a chocolate frog that, Harry was relieved to see, was really just chocolate, "Got any idea what house you'll be in?"

"No… er… what exactly are the houses?" Harry asked, figuring that it was better to ask these boys who seemed to be friendly than to stumble on and reveal he knew nothing.

"You don't know? I guess you've been stuck with _muggles_, haven't you? That's a crime. They should have let you be raised by a proper wizarding family. There are four Hogwarts houses. First there's Slytherin, that's the best. All the great wizards have come out of Slytherin." Draco paused to take a bite and then continued. "To get in you've got to be ambitious and powerful and, well, like Salazar Slytherin, the founder. Destined for greatness."

"And there are other houses, too?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. There's Hufflepuff, which is the worst. They're not really good at anything. Wizards in Ravenclaw are supposed to be smart, which isn't that bad. Gryffindor is for courage, which isn't as good as Slytherin by far." Draco chomped down the last bit of chocolate frog. "If you've got any say in it at all, you should try to be in Slytherin…"

----

Thanks for reading!

Check my profile page for update schedule


	3. Sorting

**Chapter 2:  
Sorting**

**A/N: I re-wrote the last chapter. You should read that first, or else this won't make sense**

**As usual, I don't own any of the Harry Potter world or characters or plot. I'll be taking actual parts out of the Sorcerer's Stone, which I also really don't own any rights to.**

**Last, I want to say that I know there are a lot of problems and logistics, and that there are a lot of ways this idea could go. I'm picking one way and writing it, just for fun. There are some stories I write to be serious, this one is just to explore the idea and enjoy it. Who knows what really would have happened. This is my guess…**

**---**

Harry sat in between Draco and Crabbe, listening to the Sorting Hat sing. He was too embarrassed to ask Draco any more about Hogwarts. Instead, he just accepted the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach and worried about what might happen next.

When the song was over, Professor McGonagall stepped forward and started calling out names.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails walked, put on the hat, and sat down.

Harry held his breath waiting, wondering what would happen, then suddenly—

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat exclaimed.

Draco snickered and elbowed Harry, who tried to put on a convincing grin.

"She should just drop out now," Draco said, his voice nearly drowned out by the applause from the Hufflepuff table.

Harry nodded half-heartedly. He wondered if the girl was upset, but she didn't seem in the least bothered. If anything, she was smiling broadly and primly taking a seat at the Hufflepuff table as the students closest to her shook her hand and clapped her on the back.

"Bones, Susan," McGonagall called.

The hat only rested on her head for a second before shouting, "HUFFLEPUFF!" again.

Susan ran off to the Hufflepuff table to sit with Hannah. Harry tried to catch a close look at her expression, but again it seemed like she wasn't particularly horrified at her sorting.

It wasn't long before Crabbe was called. He gave a nod to Draco, Goyle, and Harry before striding up to the hat. He rammed it onto his head and after a few seconds, the hat declared him to be in "SLYTHERIN!"

After a few more students, Goyle also left, with the same result. He joined Crabbe at the Slytherin table to the cheers of the Slytherins.

"If I don't get Slytherin, I'll leave," Draco said again, but this time his tone was grim. The fact that Crabbe and Goyle had already been placed there seemed to make the prospect of _not_ getting it even more painful to him. "Everyone in my family's been in Slytherin. Everyone."

For the first time, Harry realized that Draco's boasting was more than just boasting. Draco was really worried. Harry tried to reassure him, saying, "Look, you've got nothing to worry about, like you said, your whole family's been there. If anyone has to worry, I do. I don't know anything about magic. What if the hat knows that and--"

Draco shook his head. "Then you'll just go to another house, and no one will care, will they?" Draco saw the downcast look on Harry's face and immediately regretted saying that. "I mean, it won't make any difference to you, will it? My whole life, I've been told it's Slytherin or nothing. My father would… I don't even know what he'd do."

"Malfoy, Draco!" Professor McGonagall called out clearly.

"Well, wish me luck," Draco said somewhat glumly, but as he stood up, he put on a tough face and swaggered up to the sorting hat.

Harry held his breath as Draco pulled the hat on, but luckily, almost instantly the hat shouted out, "SLYTHERIN!"

That left Harry to wait alone. He looked around the room while he waited. The girl from the train had been sorted into Gryffindor, which Harry supposed wouldn't be too bad. Still, Draco and Crabbe and Goyle were all in Slytherin, and they were the only people Harry had really talked to so far.

He waited nervously through the next five people before McGonagall finally called, "Potter, Harry!"

A hush fell through the hall as everyone stared at Harry, whispering to each other about who he was.

His face burning, Harry walked up to the sorting hat and dropped it over his head.

"Hmm," the hat said, "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes—and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the chair and thought "_Slytherin, please, Slytherin._"

"Slytherin, eh?" the voice said. "Quite right. You can be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that—well, if you're sure, then, **SLYTHERIN**!"

The last word was shouted to the whole hall and Harry took off the hat, grinning, and walked over to join Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle amidst the thundering applause from the Slytherin table.

"Good work," Draco said, slapping Harry on the back.

"You too," Harry told him, returning the gesture.

Harry had a feeling that everything was going to work out just fine…

Thanks for reading!

Check my profile page for update schedule


End file.
